19/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Germany suspends returns of asylum seekers to Greece for one year. On Wednesday 19 January, Germany announced that it was to suspend for one year returns of asylum seekers to Greece, according to AFP, whilst the influx of illegal immigrants to this country is making their detention conditions very difficult. The United Kingdom, Sweden, Iceland and Norway have already taken similar steps, despite the Dublin-II agreement, which allows a member state to send illegal immigrants back to the country where they entered the EU. According to the European borders agency Frontex, nearly 3/4 of the 40,977 people intercepted on the borders of the EU in the first half of 2010 entered via Greece, mainly from Turkey. On 1 January, Greece announced its plans to close its border with Turkey in order to remedy the situation. (S.P./transl.fl)